How Do I Cite an Online Article?

In general, an online newspaper article, magazine article or blog post should be treated in the same manner as journal articles published in print publications; this includes using the same citation format.

Use an author entry when possible; otherwise use date entries (or “n.d.” as necessary) instead.

Title

Citations are used to give credit where it’s due and also help other readers locate the source material, including books, journal articles and websites. When creating a citation it is crucial that all pertinent details such as author’s name, article title, publication date medium of publication date of access are included; when creating this type of citation the correct format and all the required details such as author’s name publication date medium medium of publication access date must also be listed correctly.

In online scholarly journals, author’s names should always come first, followed by title of article enclosed within quotation marks if independent from container or italicized if part of journal. Title should then be followed by volume number (e.g. 56), issue number (e.g. no 7), year of publication and doi (digital object identifier).

MLA and APA styles require that citations include both the URL and name of any academic research databases or platforms that hosted the article (including its protocol such as http:// or https://).

Noting the absence of publication dates on some scholarly journals is also crucial; retrieval dates must then be included and, should material change over time, an access date as well.

Website citations can be used for an individual web page, site with multiple pages, or entire website. They should start by including the author’s last name and initials; if there are 21 or more authors then only 19 names should be listed, with an ellipsis (…) between each entry. Next the author should be placed between quotation marks before their article title italicized with publication year bracketed; finally parenthetical notations indicate retrieval date or use the term n.d instead for retrieval date or no retrieval date can be substituted instead for retrieval date/access date when retrieval date/access is not possible or retrievable

Author

Citing web pages or articles requires providing the author (or their alias), website name, date of posting/updating (if no date available, search copyright date/last updated date for information posted/updated), retrieval date if the content may change over time; for instance “These ice shelves are breaking up faster than expected due to climate change” (Rasmussen 2021 para 2).

Note that authors can include individuals, groups, or organizations. If you’re uncertain who the author is for a website’s “About” section or contact the webmaster, check their “About” page or use an organization as the author abbreviation according to APA’s guide of group author abbreviations for help.

When citing websites as sources, in most instances it is necessary to cite their entirety rather than individual web pages or articles. If the source website is a newspaper or magazine article online; an encyclopedia article online; a blog; or some other personal site as blog post/article online.

If a website has a digital object identifier (DOI), be sure to include it when citing. A DOI provides a permanent reference point that makes locating original sources much simpler in library databases or reference tools; DOIs may be assigned for articles, books and websites online versions.

Twitter and Facebook, in particular, lack clear authors; in these instances you should cite both websites themselves as sources and provide the URL to any pages or articles that were accessed. Note that sources may change or disappear over time so be sure to refer back to the most up-to-date version for accurate data. It is essential that when citing social media that one remains mindful of this risk while keeping in mind many public platforms are accessible by all.

Date

An online citation tool can make the task of compiling your reference list simple and efficient. These tools can assist with creating references for news articles, government websites, blogs and more, keeping track of permalinks so it’s easy to locate original sources later. These citation tools also save time by providing you with a full bibliography in accordance with instructor requirements.

Citing an online article, make sure that the date that it was published or accessed is included. If there is no publication date available, use the date that content was last updated or copyrighted instead. Also provide the URL.

For online scholarly publications, it is necessary to provide author names, article titles in quotation marks, publication dates, medium of publication, page numbers and URL addresses as needed. Furthermore, it should be stated whether or not the publication is an online journal article.

Whenever citing online news stories, be sure to include author name and date of publication in your bibliography. If the publication is daily, weekly, or monthly newspaper then include its date as part of your bibliography; otherwise use date of access as date of publication.

Locating an online news story may be challenging. If possible, use author information to cite it according to APA standards for bibliographie entries if this option exists; otherwise use date of access instead.

Citing news articles containing an emoji requires using its technical name from Unicode’s Emoji Charts; if an emoji has multiple uses, both versions should be included in your bibliography citation.

URL

Citing an online article requires both citing its URL and page number, along with providing access dates. Date of access dates can be particularly relevant as content on websites can frequently change; news articles might be updated to reflect breaking developments, while blogs might add new posts; therefore it’s wise to bookmark any webpage where the article can be found for future reference.

Citing online articles can be challenging due to varying formats used by journals and websites that are not standardised in the same way as print sources. Valencia East Library’s video offers guidance for creating an APA style citation of an online article.

Websites often feature information from various authors – both individual people and corporate organizations alike. When citing online websites, it’s essential to determine who the author of each post or article is; whether they’re individuals or companies; as well as make sure you include their correct names when possible; this should appear prominently within any citation; in the absence of this data being available, companies should instead be listed.

Citations for online articles must always include the URL, access date and a comprehensive reference list entry. In addition, its format should remain consistent throughout.

APA style requires that online citations include the date of access as part of their parenthetical citation. This date should be written as “Year, Month Day”; if no date is available then (n.d) is best used instead. DOI (digital object identifier)s should also be provided whenever possible in lieu of URL and access date/time information.